Hour of Code once again encourages introductory activities in computer programming for everyone during Computer Science Education Week. Boston Tech Mom has an updated, comprehensive catalog of Hour of Code activities and opportunities.
Category Archives: Events
Women in STEM Event at UMass Lowell, Grades 7-12, Dec. 9
FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Team 5962 will host a Women in STEM event for girls in Grades 7-12 on Saturday, December 9, 10AM-3PM, in the UMass Lowell Makerspace (Falmouth Bldg., Rm 102, 1 University Avenue, Lowell). At this event, students may participate in fun, hands-on activities led by female engineers. During lunch, there will be a discussion time for students to ask the engineers and members of the UMassLowell Society of Women Engineers (SWE) any questions they have. The event is free, and lunch is provided. Register here. No experience required!
Technovation: Intro Webinar – Nov. 14, Kick-Off – Dec. 9
The Technovation Challenge is a worldwide, technology entrepreneurship competition in which each teams of five middle- or high-school girls (10-18 years old) identify problems in their local communities, build prototype mobile apps for them, develop business plans, and pitch the plans to potential investors. Teams will meet for 3-4 hours weekly with mentors from the tech/business community, January-April, in preparation for regional and worldwide events in May and June.
The MassTLC Education Foundation will host a webinar on November 14, 12:30-1PM, to introduce parents, students, and potential mentors to the competition. If you are not available at that time, register to get access to a recording of the webinar. And everyone — students, parents, mentors, and anyone else interested — is invited to register for the in-person Technovation Kick-Off event (register here) on December 9, 1:30-5:30PM at LogMeIn (333 Summer Street, Boston). Teams can register for the competition anytime before March 7. and may attend MIT’s free App Inventor workshop, January 27, 9:30AM-Noon (register here). Adults can sign up to be a mentor/coach. For more information, email info@technovationchallenge.org.
20th MIT ‘Friday After Thanksgiving’ Chain Reaction, Nov. 24
Each year, on the Friday After Thanksgiving, the MIT Museum hosts a hugely collaborative Chain Reaction in which simple or complex contraptions built by participating teams are joined into one massive Rube-Goldberg-esque chain reaction viewed by over 1500 attendees. (See video from 2017.) This year, the 20th annual F.A.T. Chain Reaction will be on November 24, 1-4PM, and will be based on the theme “Twice As” (as in “2X, for the 20th anniversary). The public can view contraptions and talk with teams 1PM-3PM, and the chain reaction will start at 3:30PM. Buy tickets online or in person on November 24 at the MIT Museum (starting at 10AM) or Rockwell Cage (starting at 1PM). There’s still time to register a team to participate by building a link in the chain.
Register Now for STEM Pathways mini-Jamboree, Feb. 17
STEM Pathways — a Boston University/MIT outreach program for synthetic biology — will host its annual mini-Jamboree on Saturday, February 17 , 9:30AM-4PM on the BU campus, to expose high school and undergraduate students — particularly those from underrepresented communities — to synthetic biology, international competition, and recruiters for next season’s Boston University & MIT iGEM teams. Registration is free, required, and open now. High-school students must be accompanied by an adult (parent, teacher, chaperone). Read about the 2017 mini-Jamboree.
LigerBots to Host FLL Regional Qualifying Tournament at NNHS, Nov. 18
The LigerBots will again host the Newton Qualifier, a FIRST LEGO League robotics competition for 300 Massachusetts students in Grades 4-8 on Saturday, November 18, 9AM-3PM, at Newton North HS. It’s free and open to the public. The theme of this year’s competition is Hydro Dynamics (see video). Teams will compete using LEGO robots they have designed, built, and programmed to perform complex tasks. The public may also view the teams’ displays of their solutions to real-world problems related to the water-based theme. There will also be a maker fair with hands-on STEM activities for kids and a “RoboPalooza” exhibit of robots from First Robotics Competitions and FIRST Tech Challenges.
STEM Talks at TEDx@BeaconStreet at JFK Library, Nov. 18
There will be several STEM-related speakers participating in the TEDx@BeaconStreet event at the John F. Kennedy Library on November 18, 8AM-9PM. In-person seating is currently full for each block, but you can register here and then get on the waitlist. If you don’t clear the waitlist, you’ll still be able to view the simulcast, either onsite or online.
- Gina Ford, Principal Sasaki Associates
- Jim Heppelmann, President and CEO, PTC
- Hiroshi Ishii, Associate Director MIT Media Lab
- Satchidananda Panda, Professor Regulatory Biology Laboratory at Salk
- Valerie Mosley, Chairwoman and CEO, Valmo Ventures Bio
- Cady Coleman, NASA Astronaut, NASA’s Office of the Chief Technologist
- Justin Werfel, Senior Research Scientist, Wyss Institute at MIT
- John Ryan, Co-Founder, Banyan Infrastructure
- Lindiwe Matlali, Founder and CEO of Africa Teen Geeks
- Olle Ljungqvist, Professor of Surgery at Örebro University Hospital
- Bernard Harris, Former NASA Astronaut
- Tal Achituv, MIT Media Lab, Center for Civic Media
- Kathy Kleiman, Founder of ENIAC Programmers Project
- Tal Zaks, Chief Medical Officer, Moderna Therapeutics
- Fiorenzo Omenetto, Associate Dean for Research & SoE Tufts University
- Mina Khan, Software Engineer at Google
- Osman Kibar, CEO at Samumed
High-School Teachers: Bring 2 Students to Tour MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center, Dec. 14
The MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center invites high-school teachers to bring two outstanding students for the Center’s annual Outreach Day, December 9. The event will discuss plasmas, harnessing fusion energy, large magnets, and sources of intense microwave and millimeter-wave power. Students will observe plasmas in a glow discharge tube, perform hands-on demonstrations with superconductivity, and see MIT’s tokamak, the Alcator C-MOD. The program begins at 9AM and goes to 1PM, when there will be an optional information session and tour of MIT at 3PM. Bring a lunch. Registration is first-come, first-served and closes November 29. For further information, email Paul Rivenberg at rivenberg@psfc.mit.edu.
Newton Free Library: STEM Events in November
The Newton Free Library will host the following STEM events in October:
- November 2: Scratch Club, 7-8PM, Grades 3-4. Space is limited. Pick up tickets 15 minutes beforehand at the Children’s Desk.
- November Fridays: Girls Who Code, 4-6PM, Grades 6-12. Space is filled; waiting list.
- November Tuesdays: Girls Who Code, 6:30-8:30PM, Grades 6-12. Space is filled; waiting list.
- November 29: Intro to Ozobots, 4PM, Grades 2-4. Registration opens November 8.
NSHS DaVinci Teachers to Present at MAST Conference and STEM Summit
Teachers leading the Newton South HS DaVinci program — Divya Shannon, Amy Richard and Molly Baring-Gould — will make presentations about this interdisciplinary STEAM program at both the Massachusetts Association of Science Teachers conference on November 2-3 and the Massachusetts STEM Summit on November 14. Their presentation, The daVinci Program — Building a STEAM Community, will focus on the benefits of integrated learning (especially incorporating art) at all stages, from developing a program to application in an individual teacher’s classroom. In this workshop, they will first discuss their motivation, growth, and lessons learned in developing this program, and then they will facilitate discussion among attendees about sample lessons, content, skills required, participants’ other efforts in this area, feedback on the DaVinci presentation, and the recruitment of community partners.